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Saturday, June 1, 2013

Six things car dealers never tell you

Six Things the Dealer Doesn’t Want You to Know When Buying a New Car

Some things
change, and some things seem to stay the same. While the auto
industry has undergone a shift in consumer pricing with the debut of the zero
hassle, zero bargaining car sales places, the majority of new car dealers are
still offering its customers the big hassle, lots of the bargaining process for
buying a new car.

Most people
don’t want to go toe to toe with the car salesmen when negotiating a price but
in the effort to get the best possible deal they run into the dealership
cubicle with a check book in hand and play let’s make a deal.

If you’re
one of the hardy souls who is planning on charging into the dealership and
wrestling a reasonable price from a salesman, here are six things you should
know that the dealership doesn’t want you to know while buying a new car.

The sticker price isn’t the
real price. The dealer knows that they’ve built in a bunch of
extra charges into the sticker price that are nothing but pure
profit. Destination fees, acquisition fees, dealer prep fees and
advertising fees are all profit centers for the dealer. They
know it, and now you know it. Be willing to settle out of those
fees.

Zero Down, Zero Payments for
the first year will probably burn you down the road. Your car isn’t
free. You might have decent enough credit to drive the car for free
for the first year, but chances are when you do have to start paying the
fees the interest rates that you will be paying will include the interest
rate you didn’t pay in the first year. Also, oftentimes the balance
of loan is so high you actually end up paying much more for the loan.

Get your own loan.
That acquisition fee of a thousand dollars that the dealer wants you to
pay? That the fee the bank charges the dealer for creating the
loan. Get your own bank loan and kiss that charge goodbye.
Also, chances are your bank is going to offer you a much, much better deal
than the dealer is going to offer you. If you truly want to
play it smart, shop the loan you want at several different banks and get
the best loan.

Dump the pricey
extras. Simonising the fabric for $500 or whatever they are choosing
to call it means little more than spraying a decent fabric protector on
your seats. Chances are you can find a fabric protector of equally
high quality and make it yourself for about $25 or even less. Ditto
for window tinting and small “extras” you never asked for a don’t really
want or need. Don’t let them tell you otherwise.

Extended Warranties.
Extended warranties are enormous profit centers for dealers.
Modern cars come with extensive warranties that don’t need to be
extended. Be careful when looking at the contract. If you see these
suckers get them out of the contract.

Time. Most
people walk into a dealership fall in love and want to run out with a new
car right away. Salespeople will tell them stories like “this
is the only one like it that we have left”. You’ll feel that sense
of urgency to buy. Salespeople are skilled at creating a sense of
urgency. If you fall for this false urgency it’s going to cost you,
chances are there are two or even three dealers of the type of car you are
looking for. Find the make, model, color and year of the car
you want. Then, play them off of each other. Get the lowest
price from one dealer, then take that quote to another dealer and ask if
they can beat it. See what they have to say. If they can, take
that dealers quote to the next one and give them the opportunity to beat
it. If you have the time, show up in person for the
process. It will take some time but in the end it will be time well
spent.

About the Author-

Allen Jones writes for
PureChecks.com, where you can design your own checks the way you want them.